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Test for being Truly Religious
find out the reasons. For instance, if we had been to listen to a sermon, we should ask ourselves what we gained from it. Did we get a new insight? Which attribute of ours got nourished and which fault could we drop?
Man can abandon many things, but he cannot give up the sense of belonging. A monk might have given up the worldly life, but he may not be free from the aspiration for fame and reputation. He may even feel jealous of others. There is an anecdote in this respect. In ancient times, there were two monks. One of them could not observe austerities, but he appreciated the virtues of others. The other observed acute austerities, but was egoist and could not bear others' virtues.
Once they spent the monsoon together in a vacant house. When the owner came back at the end of the monsoon, he asked the first monk about his experience. The monk talked highly of the austerity of the other. When the owner requested for religious guidance, the monk humbly said that he was not competent to give it and pointed to the other monk for getting the same. When the owner talked to the other monk, he criticized the first one for not observing austerity; when the owner asked for guidance, the monk started talking about the religious canons. By virtue of his egoism and jealousy, he acquired much sin, while the straightforward monk got absolved of his Karmas and attained omniscience. What we need to make out is that egoism does not allow a man to perceive the virtues of others. One should therefore learn to minimize his own qualities and magnify those of others. It is said:
Pargun paramänun parvatikrutya nityam; nijhradi vikasantah santi santah kiyantah. (How many saints are there who develop at heart by magnifying the slightest virtues of others to the level of a mountain?)
If one wants to gain true superiority, he should develop his attributes without trying to reduce others to inferiority. Mogul emperor Akbar önce drew a line on a board and asked Birbal to make it shorter without tempering with it. Birbal did it by drawing a longer line and showed that Akbar's line was shorter.
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